Troubleshoot the Analytics and Target integration (A4T)

This topic covers some common issues that have been encountered when using Adobe Analytics as the reporting source for Adobe Target (A4T).

Activities do not show data in Analytics, but are instead listed as “unspecified.” unspecified

There are several reasons why data shows as “unspecified” could happen:

  • Classification in Target hasn’t fully processed.

    Classification generally takes from 24 through 72 hours to classify reports after the first save.

  • The report suite doesn’t contain any data, but Target has tried to classify hits. Target cannot classify data until the first hit occurs.

    Ensure that the report suite has had at least one hit.

  • The classification call from Target to Analytics failed.

    Contact Customer Care for assistance.

If you break down the “unspecified” row by the “Analytics for Target” dimension and it consists no activity ids, it means that everything is classified properly. If activity ids are listed there, then it serves as an indication for a classification issue.

NOTE
Sometimes data displays correctly in reports, but then reverts to “unspecified” because a new activity was added that hasn’t completed classification. Remember that it generally takes from 24 through 72 hours to classify reports after the first save.
No data is lost when listed as “unspecified.” The data is properly assigned to the appropriate activity or experience after the classification runs.

A4T Activity reports include a row with many “unspecified” events. added_unspecified_events

There might be an “Unspecified” events row shown in your report, depending on the metric you use to display your data with.

Typically, this row displays if you choose a common metric in the report that is not Target-specific (for example, Page Views, Visits, Unique Visitors, and so forth). In this case, the “Unspecified” row includes all the Page Views, Visits, and Unique Visitors that are not associated to Target activities.

That row won’t have any Target-associated information (for example, no visitors, visits, or impressions). For more information, see “Unspecified,” “None,” “Other,” and “Unknown” in reporting in the Analytics tech notes.

If you choose a Target-specific metric in the report, that “Unspecified” row does not display. The only way to avoid having it in the report altogether is to set a Target call on every request sent from that page, which is not common or necessary.

Estimated lift in revenue metric does not show correct data. section_35D766E5E4D347C39E15D08AA883FBB0

Lift and confidence details are not available in Analytics. They are, however, available in the Target reports.

Activities do not appear in Analytics reports. section_F7001EB4670F4B3497CC7DA60BBDA6D5

A4T activities require an analytics tracking server to be specified. See Using an Analytics Tracking Server to make sure that your Analytics Tracking Server is set up correctly.

NOTE
You do not need to specify a tracking server during activity creation if you are using at.js version 0.9.1 (or later). The at.js library automatically sends tracking server values to Target. During activity creation, you can leave the Tracking Server field empty on the Goals & Settings page.

My Analytics segments don’t appear in Target. section_DEE87F1557834F448E99381D3D02EEEF

Make sure you have the right permissions before you start creating A4T activities:

  • Belong to the Web Services Access group in Adobe Analytics to be able to use Analytics as the reporting source for Target
  • Be a member of one or more Experience Cloud groups that have access to Analytics and Target.
  • Verify that Analytics and Target appear in the Marketing Apps section of the left navigation.

Bounce rates, bounces, and exits metrics appear as positives in reports. section_B5C3D56EF0344407AE67ABEB93037F5A

These metrics appearing as positives in reports is a known issue.

Although these metrics are negative, the lift is shown as if they were positive in the Target reports. For example, even though you want a lower bounce rate, the higher bounce rate is shown as the winner with highest lift. Be aware of these and similar metrics, and whether you’d prefer to decrease or increase the numbers, when making decisions based on your reports.

The report suite I need does not display. section_BD8F956E41D6475B98B7BF0C74CC387C

The list of report suites that appears in Target Standard/Premium is the list of report suites that have been configured for Analytics as the reporting source for Target (A4T). You might not see every report suite that you have.

If you are using multiple reporting sources, the report suites must be present in the default reporting source set in Target as well. If the report suites are not in the default reporting source, the reports suites do not display.

If you still don’t see the report suite that you are looking for, contact Client Care to get it enabled.

I’m not seeing as much data in reports as expected. section_75002584FA63456D8D9086172925DD8D

Review your implementation, especially on pages where your visitors qualify for experiences and ensure that the supplemental data IDs match in the Target and Analytics calls.

  • at.js 1.x: In the Target call, the supplemental ID is contained in the mboxMCSDID parameter. In the Analytics call, the supplemental ID is contained in the sdid parameter.
  • at.js 2.x: In the Target call, the supplemental ID is returned in the HTTP header as the value for experienceCloud.analytics.supplementalDataId. In the Analytics call, the supplemental ID is contained in the sdid parameter.

The easiest way to examine the supplemental ID is by using the Adobe Experience Platform Debugger.

If you have not installed the debugger, see Introduction to the Adobe Experience Platform Debugger.

Debugger

If there is no supplemental data ID in the Target call, confirm that the VisitorAPI.js file is loaded before at.js. If there is no supplemental data ID in the Analytics call, confirm that the Target call fires before the Analytics call.

For more information, see Analytics for Target Implementation or contact Customer Care.

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